Welcome to NECF Sermons. Each message here is
designed to uplift and strengthen you in your
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the end for a rewarding experience. Let's dive
right in. Well, welcome to today's service. And
I pray that we'll bless even as we listen to
the word. And we're going to continue where we
started on Sunday. The supernatural nature of
the Christian gathering. What makes this gathering
a supernatural gathering? Praise the Lord. And
we're going to continue from where we stopped.
Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28. And Jesus
came and spoke to them, saying, All authority
has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
of the Son, of the Holy Spirit. teaching them
to observe all the things I've commanded you,
and lo, I'm with you always, even to the end
of the age. Amen. So, for Sunday, we started
by saying that this is the mandate that God has
given to every believer. This is what God has
called us to, right? This is the purpose that
we have, praise the Lord, to do His will. We
don't find We don't find purpose anywhere else.
Praise the Lord. We don't find it anywhere else.
We find this in doing the mandate of God. Praise
the Lord. And we said that from verse 19, that
starts to talk that you should go and make disciples
of all nations. That the word to make disciples
is a Greek word, which means to train. Praise
the Lord. To train, which means to... instruct,
which means it's deeper than just receiving the
word. It's deeper than just sitting down and
somebody telling you or teaching you something.
Praise the Lord. It's way beyond that. It's the
word to train, right? And it's very practical.
It's a very practical way of training, right?
To model something by example. Praise the Lord.
And we also said that God wants disciples that
are trained, that is believers, who would also
train others. Praise the Lord. That the intention
and the desires of God is to have people that
are trained so that they can train others. He
doesn't want people or his desire is not that
you should just go like that or you should just
hear the word and believe and just go like that.
He wants you to be trained. He wants you to receive
training so that you are able to train others.
Praise the Lord. And we also said that the church
is an ongoing training. So every time that we
come to church, What we are doing is that we
are receiving training. We continue in training.
Praise the Lord. And so that's why we have so
many instructions in regards to the things you
can do and cannot do when we come to the house
of God, because it is a place of training. We
also saw that word to instruct, right? In Matthew
13, 52. And we said that the training has no
regard for age. It has no regard for physical
or earthly possession. Praise the Lord. It's
not a respect of how old you are, how young you
are, maybe to what we are doing here. You're
very young, so these things are... I'm not there
yet. Praise the Lord. It's not a respectful of
that. It doesn't think of you as you're too small.
Praise the Lord. The training does not consider
that you're too young. Praise the Lord. It is
a training that every age should receive, irrespective
of your background. Praise the Lord. It does
not respect how wealthy you are. Praise the Lord.
He does not respect that you do not have money.
He does not respect that you do have money. He
does not respect that you have this or have that.
Praise the Lord. It is a training that everyone,
irrespective of your background, should receive.
Praise the Lord. Whether you have influence or
not. And so I encourage those to, whenever we
have people around us, whenever you have people
around you that maybe consider themselves as
too young or consider themselves as too old,
or consider themselves as wealthy, or you can
see that they have material possessions, or do
not have material possessions that much, it does
not affect you, praise the Lord. It does not
affect the mandate of God that you have. So you
go on to preach the gospel, to train, praise
the Lord, consigning the things of God. So in
verse 20, we now said, how is this training received?
How is this training received? In verse 20, he
said what? Teaching them to observe all the things
I've commanded you and lo, I'm with you always,
even to the end of the age. How is the training
done? The training is done by teaching. Praise
the Lord. The training is done by teaching. Our
teaching is the Greek word didasko, which means
that discipleship involves training, it involves
instruction, it involves being educated, praise
the Lord, or to educate someone. So we also said
that it means that we can call the church a Bible
school, praise the Lord. We can call the church
a Bible school, or the church ought to be a place
that is regarded as a Bible school because it
should be a place of training, a place where
people are educated in regards to the things
of God. Praise the Lord. And that is because
the Bible is our primary source of information,
wisdom, and instructions. So we're going to continue.
When he says to teach them all the things I've
commanded you, right? It tells us that there
is something that Christ is telling us to teach
from. There is somewhere that he's telling us
to teach from. Praise the Lord. So when he's
saying educate them, when he's saying instruct
them, he's not just saying instruct them as you
will. Instruct them as you so desire or instruct
them as it comes to you. Or you would say, as
the Spirit leads you. Praise the Lord. Right?
He said, for teaching them to observe all the
things I've commanded you. Praise the Lord. There
is things that Christ has commanded. There are
things that Christ has commanded. So we cannot
now develop our own body of knowledge. Praise
the Lord. We cannot now say, okay, yes, these
people are here for training. Let me develop
my curriculum based upon how I feel. or how I
think about their needs or what is going on amongst
them, or maybe they are too young. Let me try
to do some things. Praise the Lord. He's saying
you should teach from that which he has commanded,
right? That they would observe all the things
that he has commanded. So how do we replicate
that which Christ has done? We said that in Luke
chapter 24, verse 44 to 45. Luke 24, verse 44
to 45. Then he said to them, These are the words
which I speak to you while I was still with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which were
written in the law of Moses, in the prophet,
and in the Psalms concerning me. Verse 45. and
he opened their understanding that they may comprehend
the Scriptures. Praise the Lord. So, Jesus taught
from the Scriptures. Praise the Lord. So when
he says, teaching them to observe all the things
I've commanded you, he's saying you should teach
them from the Scriptures. Praise the Lord. You
should teach them from the Scriptures. Right?
He taught them from the Scriptures. And we said
that the Scriptures that Jesus had, Was Genesis
to what? To Malachi. Praise the Lord. Jesus did
not have Revelation. He did not have John. He
didn't have any of those. He taught them from
the Scriptures. He taught them Genesis to Malachi.
So in John 5, verse 39. John 5, verse 39. He
said, you search the scriptures, for in them
you think you have eternal life. And these are
they which testify about me. Praise the Lord.
These are they which testify about me. Verse
45 to 46. Do not think that I have, I shall accuse
you. Sorry. Do not think I shall accuse you to
the Father. One who accused you, Moses, even
whom you trust. Verse 46. For if you believe
Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about
me. Praise the Lord. So if they believed Moses,
if they believed the scriptures, Jesus is saying
that he's saying nothing different from that
which was written. Praise the Lord. He's saying
nothing different from that which is in the scriptures
because the scriptures were writing. consigning
him. Praise the Lord. The scriptures wrote consigning
him. Praise the Lord. So he taught also from
the scriptures. So Jesus himself was also confined
by that which was written consigning him. Praise
the Lord. He didn't come and start telling them
something new. Praise the Lord. He opened the
scriptures and he taught them consigning himself.
Praise the Lord. From the scriptures. So he himself
did not develop his own body of knowledge praise
the lord he himself did not develop his body
of knowledge but he went to the scriptures to
teach them so when he says teaching them to observe
all the things i've commanded you he's saying
that you should teach from the scriptures matthew
chapter 7 from verse 28 to 29 And so it was when
Jesus had ended this saying that the people were
astonished at his teaching. And he taught them,
for he taught them as one having authority, not
as the scribes. So they were astonished at his
teaching. Remember, he was teaching them from
the scriptures. Praise the Lord. And so when
he says he didn't teach them as one of the scribes,
right? They were also teaching from the same
place. Praise the Lord. So Jesus was teaching
from the scriptures, right? And equally, he taught
them in a particular way from the scriptures.
He taught them in a particular way. He said that
he had, he was speaking, he taught them as one
having authority. Praise the Lord. Meaning that
he knows what he's saying, right? They could
understand what he's saying. Praise the Lord.
He understood the scriptures. He could break
it down for them to understand. Praise the Lord.
So when we are teaching the scriptures, we also
have to teach it in a way that can be understood.
So when we have didasko, where we saw in Matthew
28, verse 20, which means that we teach from
the scriptures because Jesus taught from the
scriptures. Like I mentioned on Sunday, he was
not teaching them how to increase their salary.
Praise the Lord. He's not teaching them how to
do something else. Praise the Lord. He was not
using the platform where he was not using the
scriptures to teach them any other thing, but
to teach them the things of God. Praise the Lord.
You might be somebody who is maybe an expert
in a field. A lot of us are, right? And you have
somebody, or as a result of what you are doing,
you have the opportunity to teach, right? What
you are teaching is not, you're not trying to
teach somebody how to increase their salary.
There are places for that. There are opportunities
for that, right? Don't let me go and ask you,
how do I do this? How do I do that? You can advise
them on that. but not to use the platform where
you're supposed to be teaching for something
else. So he was not teaching them other things.
He was teaching them the scriptures. They were
astonished at his teaching. Praise the Lord.
And we said that your level of training as a
believer is your level of understanding and practice
of the scriptures. Praise the Lord. Your level
of training as a believer is your level. So if
you don't receive, proper training, you are not
going to understand or practice the scriptures
properly. Praise the Lord. You will see a particular
verse and maybe you will apply it to something
that is not supposed to be because you do not
have the training that is required for you to
be able to know exactly what to do with that
scripture. Praise the Lord. So your level of
understanding what you know or your level of
training as a believer is your level of understanding
and practice of the Scriptures. Mark chapter
16, from verse 15 to 20. Mark chapter 15, 16.
It says, And he said to them, Go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature.
He who believes and is baptized will be saved.
He who does not believe will be condemned. And
this sign will follow those who believe. In my
name they shall cast out demons, they shall speak
with new tongues. They will take up sapient,
and if they drink anything deadly, it will not
by any means hurt them. They will lay hands on
the sick, and they will recover. So then, after
the Lord has spoken to them, it was received
up to heaven, and they sat down at the right
hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere,
the Lord walking with them, confirming their
words through the accompanying of signs. Amen.
Praise the Lord. So, we see here that two things
are very clear. to again what i said about tying
into what i said about the local church right
or the church in general that it is a place where
you are taught trained and taught to preach the
gospel to the world praise the lord so the church
is a place where you are taught trained and trained
also to preach the gospel to the world in a local
church we do not have those right we do not have
those who are in ministry and those who are not
in ministry. Praise the Lord. Because this is
an instruction that Christ gives to all believers,
all that believe in Him. Praise the Lord. This
is an instruction that He gives to everyone that
believes in Him. This is a walk of everybody
that believed in Christ. So we don't have in
the church, maybe they say, okay, holiday is
into the walk of ministry. And me, I'm not. Praise
the Lord. Somebody else is doing the Lord's work
and me, I'm not doing the Lord's work. Praise
the Lord. This is an instruction to every believer.
Every believer is called into ministry. We have
been taught that. Praise the Lord. Every believer
is called into ministry. So, not every believer
does respond to it, right? But every believer
is called into ministry. Praise the Lord. So,
you not responding to it does not mean you are
not called. or you not doing what you're supposed
to do, does not mean that the calling is not
on you. Because as a result of believing in Christ,
praise the Lord, as a result of salvation, you
are being called into ministry. So don't say
because you're not doing the work, you can categorize
yourself as somebody who is not in ministry.
You're just in ministry, but you're not working.
Praise the Lord. You're not doing the work. Praise
the Lord. You took your one talent and you hid
it in the earth. Praise the Lord. You close it
under the distance and it's not functional. Praise
the Lord. It doesn't mean it's not there. Praise
the Lord. So everybody that is a believer is
called into ministry. So everybody is called
into ministry. So we can say that it's an instruction.
This is one of the instructions that Christ gives
to believers. Praise the Lord. The things to
do. Right? We saw the scripture. These are one
of the few things that Christ has said to the
believer. Do these things. Praise the Lord. To
go and preach the gospel. Praise the Lord. To
go and make disciples. This is an instruction
he gives. Specifically saying, oh, this is what
you should continue to do. This is what you should
do. Praise the Lord. So this is a command of
Christ to every believer. He gives it to every
believer. This is the will of God for your life,
for every one of us. Every believer is called
to participate in the walk or in this walk. Praise
the Lord. And he says that these signs shall
follow them. Praise the Lord. He didn't say that
these signs would follow your pastors or your
teachers or would follow your... apostles or
different type of people. See, these signs will
follow them that believe. Praise the Lord. These
signs shall follow them that believe. Everybody
is included. Everybody is included. Praise the
Lord. That they will lay hands on the sick and
the sick will recover. Praise the Lord. That
they would pray for those who are demon possessed
and they will cast out demons. Praise the Lord.
They will bring liberation to those who are bound.
So this is the work that God has called every
believer to participate in. John chapter 20.
John chapter 20, verse 21 to 23. John chapter
20. So Jesus said to them again, Peace be with
you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you.
And when he had said this, he breathed on them
and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If
you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiving
them. If you retain the sin of any, they are
retained. Praise the Lord. Pastor Fred taught
us about these scriptures. Praise the Lord. So,
as a result of preaching the gospel, praise the
Lord, as a result of preaching the gospel, forgiveness
is given or forgiveness is repaid. Praise the
Lord. Forgiveness is given and forgiveness is
also retained if the person does not believe.
So we have the mandate to continue the ministry
of Jesus on the earth. Praise the Lord. He gives
an instruction to go and preach the gospel, to
go and preach it. So it therefore means that
we have the mandate to continue the work of Christ,
to continue that which he has begun to do. Because
what? He gave us a spirit. Praise the Lord. Can
we go back a little bit? Is it 22? He said, and
he breathed on them and he said to them, receive
a Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord. So he gave us
his spirit so that we can preach the gospel.
Praise the Lord. More like he gave you a mandate
to continue that which he had started. So you're
acting on God's behalf when you go and preach
the gospel. Praise the Lord. And the person believes
they are forgiven. If the person does not believe,
they are not forgiven. Praise the Lord. Because
you have the Spirit of God in the inside of you.
So you are acting in the place of God, and God
is acting in your place through His Spirit. Because
it is God who forgives the sin. Praise the Lord.
So when you preach the gospel, as Jesus has said,
preach the gospel, when a person believes, their
sins are forgiven. Praise the Lord. So you're
acting in God's capacity or you are acting in
Christ's capacity, right? He's walking through
you by His Spirit. The Holy Spirit within you
is God's partnership with you. And your partnership
with God is to carry His will or to carry on
doing His will on the earth. The Holy Spirit
within you is God's partnership with you. And
your partnership with God is to carry out His
will on earth. Praise the Lord. So God gives
us His Spirit and it's a partnership that we
have with Him. Alright? And we partner with Him
by carrying out His will on earth. And that is
to preach the gospel. So, for you to be indwelled
by the Spirit of God. And it means that you are
supposed to do the work that God has called you
to do. Praise the Lord. So the indwelling of
the Spirit and the walking of the Spirit is meant
to carry out the will of God on the earth. And
that is supposed to be through you. Praise the
Lord. It's supposed to be through you. Luke chapter
24. Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24 from verse
25 to 27. Then he said to them, O foolish ones,
slow of heart and slow of heart to believe in
all that the prophet has spoken. Ought not the
Christ to have suffered these things and to enter
his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures
the things consigning himself. Praise the Lord.
Still on what Christ has done or where the teachings
that Christ has done. So he expounded to them.
So that word expounded is the word dimenio. It's
D -I -R. M -E -N -E -U -O. It means to interpret
or to explain. Praise the Lord. It means to interpret
or to explain. So he expounded to them the scriptures.
Praise the Lord. He made them understand the
scriptures by reason of explanation or by reason
of clarity or by reason of teaching so also as
we represent god one good example that we ought
to have one skill we ought to have is the ability
to explain the scriptures praise the lord as
believers one skill that we should desire and
walk towards and continue to strive towards is
to be able to explain the Scriptures. Praise
the Lord. It's to be able to explain the Scriptures,
to be able to expound it, to be able to explain
it to somebody who is confused, who does not
know anything about the Gospel. So one good example
of a disciple of Jesus is that he is able to
interpret the Scriptures. So to be able to understand
the scriptures or to be able to explain the scriptures,
one of the things that Pastor Victor has taught
us is that we need to understand the grammar
of the scriptures. We need to understand the
setting of the scriptures or the context of the
scriptures. These are one of the tools that we
need to be able to explain or interpret the scriptures.
Praise the Lord. Like I said, when I started
on Sunday, I said to us that the reason why we
use Greek word is because the Bible was never
written in English. Praise the Lord. And we use
those things because we want to, it helps us
understand the intention of the writer. Praise
the Lord. So the Bible of Jesus, sorry, like
I mentioned earlier again, the Bible that Jesus
preached or what he was using was not a romance
to revelations. He didn't have those scriptures.
They were not available. Matthew was not available.
Matthew was there, but the scriptures were not
available. Praise the Lord. He never saw them.
He never saw them, scriptures. They were not
even available at the time. So the scripture
that Jesus was teaching from, or he was expounding
from, or he was bringing knowledge and understanding
from, was what? Genesis to Malachi. In that same
Luke, verse 44 to 45, again, he said something.
Luke 24, 44 to 45. Then he said to them, these
are the words which I spoke to you while I was
still with you, that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law of Moses and in
the prophet and in the Psalms concerning me.
And he opened their understanding that they might
comprehend the scriptures. He opened their understanding
that they may understand the scriptures. When
he says he opened, what was he doing? As also
we have learned from a lot of Pastor Victor's
teaching about exegesis. E -X -E -G -E -S -I
-S. So what Jesus was doing here was exegesis.
Praise the Lord. What he was doing was exegesis.
What is exegesis? If you don't remember, right?
So it is a skill, right? It's not just a, it's
not just something that you do once and it's
not something that you are, it's off and on,
right? It's a skill that you have. If you think
of, somebody who plays football very well, right?
You know that they are very skillful. They have
control. They know how to decompose and so many
things like that. There are some people that
go and once you give them the ball, their touch
is off. They don't know how to hold it well.
So they're not skillful. Praise the Lord. Right?
So it's a skill. Exegesis is a skill. Right?
And it's something that Somebody is trained with.
The training that you get is by training, praise
the Lord, that you are able to explain the Scriptures.
So, exegesis is a skill of asking good questions
about what you're reading. It's a skill of asking
good questions about what you're reading. If
you don't ask proper questions about what you're
reading, You're not able to interpret. You're
not able to understand what you're reading or
the subject that you're reading. So a good reader
of the scripture is one that is always asking
questions. As he reads, he's asking questions.
He's asking questions and the questions he's
asking is so that he can interpret. Praise the
Lord. The question that the person is asking
is so that the person is able to interpret. So
questions like, who was saying that? Or who is
saying this? Questions about, why did he say
that? Praise the Lord. Questions as, who was
he talking to? Praise the Lord. So this is what
exegesis is, right? You ask good questions so
that you are able to interpret. So you're asking
questions because you want to interpret. It's
like a questionnaire, right? So that you're able
to interpret something. You cannot have good
Bible understanding without asking proper questions.
Praise the Lord. So Christ doesn't want us to
be, he doesn't want us to read something and
say, okay, this is what he says. And we just
go and then we are. Maybe he's telling somebody,
this is what the Christ has said. You're asking
a question, who is he speaking to? How does this
apply? What is the interpretation of these things?
So there's some questions that maybe as you read
the scriptures, something is said, something
you read somewhere and you're confused. And instead
of asking questions or, or asking questions and
doing research or talking to somebody, you will
just go with it and say, okay, this is what the
scripture says. Let's run with it like that.
That's why, for example, a lot of our teachings,
a lot of the teachings we are doing is trying
almost to correct something, right? Some type
of knowledge that you probably have hanged on
to for a very long time. Praise the Lord. Maybe
somebody has formed a doctrine around one verse
of the Scriptures, and a lot of people have followed
it for a very long time, and it's wrong. And
maybe there's nowhere else in the Scripture that
says so -so and so -thing, or it does contradict
some other place of the Scriptures. Praise the
Lord. So you're asking a question in order to...
interprets. So you're not asking questions as
a Pharisee, right? When you're doing a suggestive.
You're not asking questions as a Pharisee. What
were the Pharisees doing? They were asking Jesus
tempting questions. They were asking him questions
so that they would trap him. Oh, this is what
it is. Do you see what he said about this? Or
maybe what he said was blaspheming. You're asking
questions not tempting Christians. So when we
see the difference between how the Pharisees
will ask Jesus questions and how the disciples
will ask them, is that the disciples, they came
and they asked him questions because they lack
understanding. They didn't understand it. So
they're trying to get clarity. They're trying
to inquire of him what he meant by what he said.
Praise the Lord. So they come with... That humbleness
to learn from him. So they ask questions and
their intention is learning. So when you're reading
the scriptures and you're asking questions, you're
asking questions to learn, to be able to interpret.
Praise the Lord. So you can ask a question and
it's not a honest question. You're asking to
test somebody. You know, sometimes you just say,
okay, let me just, Let me ask my pastor this
question. And you're asking him, you're not trying
to learn. You just want to see, is the person
knowledgeable enough to give you this answer?
Or maybe because maybe there are a lot of people
there, you're trying to shame the person by the
questions that you're asking. This is not the
exegesis. Okay? You're not asking questions to
tempt. You're not asking questions to shame somebody.
You're not asking... you're asking positive questions
and not negative questions. Right? You're not
asking questions to prove that the person that
is speaking is ignorant. Right? Or to shame them
by your questions when you're asking to learn.
So first thing that a good student of the Bible
would do is to be able to have the ability to
ask. good questions in order to seek interpretation.
So the ability to ask questions about what the
person is reading so that he can interpret, so
that the person is not in doubt. So you're asking
questions like, what does this word mean? Or
what does love mean? You see a scripture and
it's talking about love. You're trying to find
out, okay, what does love mean here? What does
apostle mean? What does anointing mean? Maybe
you read something and it's talking about how
Jesus was anointed and you're asking, what does
anointing mean? You're asking questions because
you're trying to interpret. Is it anointing oil?
Praise the Lord. So you have this bunch of questions
that you have aside. Is it anointing oil? He
said how he anointed Jesus. He said that he came
and poured oil on him and that was the significance
to show that he was anointed. So you're asking
all these questions so that you are able to interpret.
Praise the Lord. So that you're not fooled by
somebody else. So when he says speaking in tongues,
what does that mean? Praise the Lord. So this
is a good thing for believers to have. It's a
good skill for us to have because it helps us
better interpret the scriptures. It helps us
not to get deceived. It helps us to be curious,
right? God does not want you to be somebody who,
okay, this is what they said, and then you are
going. Praise the Lord. You don't understand
it, but you say, okay, since they said it, let
us go with it. Praise the Lord. He wants you
to understand. Because when he says he opened
their understanding that they may comprehend
the scriptures, right? Jesus did not touch their
head. Do you know what I mean by touch their
head? You need to come and say, okay, since your
understanding is closed, come, let me lay hands
on you. Praise the Lord. So that, you know, like
I'll say something, your head will open. No,
that's not what he means. Right? He waits. He
said what? They're studying from what? From Moses
and the prophets. So he took time, he was diligent,
and he was explaining the scriptures until what
they understood. So when he said he opened their
understanding, it's not by laying hands. It is
by work. It is by explanation of the scriptures.
Praise the Lord. So as students, as believers,
of the scriptures, or sorry, as believers, we
all too have this skill to be able to interpret.
Praise the Lord. To be able to explain the scriptures.
When somebody asks you a question and you try
to explain it, the person says, I still don't
understand. You say, ah, it's because you're
a dog. You don't understand. There's no hope
for you. You know, this one, I don't know how
long. How long we keep telling you, praise the
Lord, is that you keep explaining. Praise the
Lord. You explain and explain through the scriptures.
I remember, personally, I remember when people,
at the time when they were talking about speaking
in tongues, and I didn't understand it. Praise
the Lord. I didn't understand what they were
doing, right? But one thing I know is that I
shall believe God, right? And I'm saved. So this
thing they are doing, I don't get it. Until somebody
explained to me from the scriptures, there was
no way I was doing anything. Praise the Lord.
So by explanation, it's not just, okay, just
speak. Somebody say, what are you people doing?
People are speaking in tongues. Say, just speak,
just keep speaking. He does not understand it.
You have not, from the scriptures, explained
to them. I remember Pastor Emma used to, When
we have somebody in our midst that is not speaking
in tongues, they will call them aside and open
the scriptures and start telling them this, this,
this, this, this, this, and the person gets it
and the person begins to speak in tongues. Praise
the Lord. Because, one, there is an explanation.
Praise the Lord. Of the things that the believers
have in Christ. Praise the Lord. So this is a
skill that we all to have. So in Esediasis, it
goes into the context also. Like I said, it goes
into the context of the scriptures. Right? So
the entire thing for Jesus is to convey understanding.
So what he was doing here is that he's trying
to convey understanding. He's trying to ensure
that the people understand. Praise the Lord.
He's trying to ensure that there is understanding.
Like I said, If you read this, there's a way
you read this, you think he laid hands on them.
Praise the Lord. Because when he said, beginning
at Moses, and you read it very fast, you think,
ah, he opened the understudies. How do you open
something? You just, you open the door. Praise
the Lord. Maybe he just did something and their
head opened. No, it is by explanation. It is
by interpretation of the scriptures. So, It's
important that we do exegesis. So in exegesis,
we read properly. Do you know what I mean by
we read properly? You're not rushing to finish.
You're not saying, okay, starting from Genesis,
starting from Moses and the prophets and the
Psalms, the things concerning him, you open the
understanding. You read properly. Praise the
Lord. And we can assess that sometimes we don't
read things properly. Like two times now, this
week, I myself and someone has read something
wrongly and we almost went to places where we
should not go, right? Remember when mommy came,
they wrote in our group that we need to pick
mommy by 2 a .m. I saw 2 p .m. It was there,
right? I saw 2 p .m. I started calling in the
afternoon. It's like, are we going? When are
we going to the airport? When are we going to
the airport? But the text message was 2 a .m.
So it's like you saw it, but your head is telling
you something else. Right? We're supposed to
have a meeting somewhere on Monday evening. It
was written three times, but the first one was
sitting here on Thursday. Praise the Lord. Right?
So you can, some things can be there, or you
can see something, it is clear. And you have
read it, but then your head is thinking something
else. Praise the Lord. So sometimes we can come
to the scriptures and we are not reading properly.
Praise the Lord. We read and you assume what
you read. You read something, okay, this is what
he said, but then your head already, maybe because
of the information that you have previously,
you just say, okay, this is what it means. Praise
the Lord. Let me give you an example. I remember
reading this year, one of the things I saw from
the Canaanites was in Exodus chapter 1. Exodus
chapter 1 from verse 16 to 22. And he said, When
you do the duties of the midwife of the Hebrew
woman, see them on the bedstool. If it is a son,
then you shall kill him. But if it is a daughter,
then she shall leave. But the midwives feared
God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded
them, but saved the male children alive. So the
king of Egypt called for the midwives and said
to them, Why have you done these things and saved
the male children alive? And the midwives said
to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women were not
like the Egyptian women, for they are lively
and give birth before the midwives come to them.
Therefore God dealt with the midwives, and the
people multiplied and grew mightily. And so it
was because the midwives feared God and that
he provided household for them. So Pharaoh commanded
all the people saying, every son who is born,
you shall cast into the river and every daughter
you shall save. Praise the Lord. Now, I came
across this and I know that there is a song when
I was growing up that talks about how, how, or
there's even a prayer about how you will give
birth as a Hebrew woman. Am I correct? Right?
There is this thing that, okay, you will give
birth as a Hebrew woman, right? There are prayers
like that. But if you read that, you know they
told a lie. Right? It was not that a They gave
birth fast or anything. Right? It was because
the people feared God. And so when Pharaoh asked
them, they told him a story. Or they told him
something. Praise the Lord. It was not that they
didn't have opportunity to kill the children.
It's because they feared God. So how can we explain
to Pharaoh? We can explain to Pharaoh that they
are lively and they give birth before we come
there. Praise the Lord. Is it because God blessed
the people? for doing that. Praise the Lord.
So, there is that where you can read all of this
and just see that the women are lively, which
most women that give birth want to be lively.
They want to give birth very, you know, I'm not
saying that, but how do we, how do we, how do
we measure lively and give birth on time? because
there are some women that two, three days, they
are still in labor. What would he say about that?
Right? There's some that maybe, as for my wife,
she gave birth like 45 minutes. Okay? So, can
I say, can I go and use that scriptures? Can
I go and use that scriptures? And, can I go and
use that scriptures and say, oh, this is why
that happened, because she's a Hebrew woman.
No. So when you read it properly, you will know
that, one, the things are very clear. It's that
the midwives, they feared God, and they didn't
carry out the instruction of Pharaoh. Now, the
stories they told, you can discuss it however
you want, but you know that they told the story
not because of what is going on, but because
they feared God. Praise the Lord. So you can
read something and interpret it however you want,
based upon the circumstance. Maybe your wife
is pregnant or somebody's pregnant. You now find
that scripture. You say, ah, no, we must pray
these scriptures. Praise the Lord. Right? There
are so many scriptures that we can pray for giving
birth and so many things like that. Right? Because
there is fear. There is so many things that is
going on. with the woman at the time, right?
And also God has encouraged us to pray whatever
sin we ask of him. Praise the Lord. He has also
given us a blank check to ask him. So if you
want, if you want your wife or somebody to deliver
on time without stress, you can pray that to
God. You don't need to go and carry. You are
lively. Praise the Lord. So it is important that
we do Exegesis. Matthew chapter 19. Matthew chapter
19. Seeing how the Pharisees were asking Jesus
Christ. Matthew chapter 19 from verse 3 to 4.
And the Pharisees came to him, testing him, saying,
Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife? For
just any reason. Verse 4. And Jesus answered
and said to them, Have you not read that he who
made them at the beginning made them male and
female? Praise the Lord. Just keep that verse
4 there. So they were asking him to tempt him.
They were not asking for clarity. Praise the
Lord. So when we interpret or when we are studying
the scriptures, we are asking questions so that
we can get clarity. Praise the Lord. So when
Jesus said to them, have you not read? Right?
Have you not read? It's the word, it's a Greek
word, anagnosko. Right? A -N -A -G -I -N -O -S
-K -O. Anagnosko. Right? Means to read properly,
to know accurately. So when he says to them,
have you not read? Have you not read? Jesus was
saying to them that the Pharisees, the Pharisees
should know the scriptures. Do you understand?
He means that they should know the scriptures.
So he was not. He was asking them a question
of, have you not read as people that don't know
the scriptures? He's asking them as people that
know the scriptures. So when he says, have you
not read? He's saying that, do you not read it
properly? Or do you not know these things accurately?
So they can readily quote the scriptures, but
they misinterpret it. Praise the Lord. So somebody
can quote the scriptures, right? Or the Pharisees
quote the scriptures. Yes, Jesus was asking them,
have you not read? He quoted the scriptures and
he's asking them the question again, have you
not read? Means that someone can quote the scriptures
and not understand it. You can quote here, quote
here, quote here. Say, ah, this person is...
The things we do in secondary school, if you
go to Christian school, they will do like sword
in, right? And sword out. Who is the fastest
to open the scriptures? Or we play games of how
many scriptures can you quote? How fast can you
quote them? Praise the Lord. Or we call the scriptures
and you quote them. Praise the Lord. It doesn't
mean that those people quoting that team really
understood what they are quoting. Praise the
Lord. So for somebody to be, for you to say,
okay, somebody is probably have proper understanding
of the scripture. It's not by how many they can
quote. To quote is very important, right? It's
a thing that we should exercise ourselves in.
But it doesn't mean that the person necessarily
understand everything that they're quoting or
what they're quoting. Because Jesus asked them
that, have you not read the scriptures? So they
can quote the scriptures and they're not, and
still did not read it properly. So, Anaginosko
means you should read in detail. Right? You should
read in detail. He said, have you not read? So,
the question they were asking Jesus was from
Deuteronomy chapter 24 verse 1. Right? But the
book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the
Bible. Right? The answer that Jesus gave them
when he says, have you not read that he made
them male and female? He's in Genesis. They asked
him a question in Deuteronomy, right? He's answering
them in Genesis, meaning that they were supposed
to read it together, that they were not supposed
to say, okay, let's, since he said in Deuteronomy,
what's wrong with Deuteronomy? Praise the Lord.
They're supposed to know, okay, what is Genesis
saying to Deuteronomy? And they are able to interpret
or they are able to explain properly. Praise
the Lord. So that's how to read properly is that
Jesus gave them the clue that, look, go from
the beginning. You will understand this question
that you're asking, although they were asking
a tempting question. So it means that a proper
Bible exegesis is that you read the Bible systematically.
You don't take one thing and then you run with
it. You're also trying to find out what was said
from the beginning and what is being said now.
So it's like somebody trying to, for those who
did engineering, they're teaching you, you're
doing Maths 102 or Linear Algebra, but you have
no idea of what Maths 101 is. You'll suffer.
Praise the Lord. Because everything they're teaching
in Math 102 and linear algebra, the basis of
it is in 101. If you don't know it, sorry, there's
nothing that, there's no cramming you can cram
to go and write it. You understand? Except somebody
pass you the answer in the exam hall, then you
just copy. But if it's based upon, let me just
understand it, maybe you'll just be in one topic
or one of the topics of the semester throughout.
Because you need to understand what one -on -one
says because it's the basis of what is it. So
if you don't know what is being said from beginning,
you're not able to read properly. So they were
supposed to read the books together, not separately.
So have you not read, have you not, have you
not read Anna Ginosko? As believers, exegesis
means to read properly, to read from the beginning,
to read systematically. So the reading of the
scriptures, for us to be able to teach, for us
to be able to interpret, for us to be able to
make disciples or train, demands that you put
as much effort, if not much more, than what you
are doing in your academics. Praise the Lord.
It requires a lot of effort. So when Jesus was
saying to them, when he said that, starting from
Moses and the prophets, it was not a small work
that he was doing. or for him to be able to have
explained that. Praise the Lord. So for somebody
to be able to have explained the scriptures to
you, it was not because, you know, they were
just, you know, they read it and then they moved
on. Praise the Lord. They need to do a study,
a proper study. Praise the Lord. So in a place,
I'm going to close the date. We still have a
lot to discuss. As in a place, or if the church
takes his responsibility as a Bible school, when
you come to, the house of God, you're supposed
to be fed properly. You're supposed to receive
from God. Not you come and then somebody have
at least 10 ways to see the hand of God. One,
favor. You will not learn anything. You just
go home the same way that you came. But for somebody
to be able to explain the scriptures for you,
that you understand, that you have understanding,
that you... your eyes is open to it or your mind
is open to you, they need to do a lot of work.
Praise the Lord. There is a lot of work that
is involved. So you can choose, right? Like I
said, that God has called us to be ministers.
You can choose. One of the ways we respond properly
is that we do exegesis, that we study properly.
We respond properly. We don't say, okay, yes,
I respond, but, you know, I'll be preaching.
One light here, one light there, one light here.
Praise the Lord. So God has given us a mandate
to preach the gospel, to go and train. Praise
the Lord. To go and train. He just opened our
mouth and just began to bless the name of the
Lord. We appreciate you being here today. We
hope you carry this word with you throughout
your week. Don't forget to check the show notes
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stay blessed.